It Ain’t About How Good You Are. It’s About How Good They Think You Are.

Do you think that merely having superior technical accounting skills is all it takes to build a successful practice?

In an european journal on “The Future of Entrepreneurship,” Demetris Vrontis wrote that many professional service firms do not understand the importance of establishing a marketing plan as they often receive orders as a result of referrals based on the quality services provided to their customers.

Seems that reputation alone is not enough to communicate all the important messages about professional skills and quality of work.

Vrontis found that with increasing competition from other high quality practitioners, locally, regionally, nationally, or even internationally, firms must now recognize that often professional services and their marketing strategies require an individualized approach by applying traditional marketing with the respective adaptations to this type of services environment.

Vrontis found that other researchers even argued the priority of customer’s orientation, while being a business consumer with specific needs, personalities and motivations. These other authors referred to the importance of internal and external relationships as factors that influence a successful marketing project.

Vrontis’ research disclosed additionally, that it is necessary to realize the importance of the degree of customization, standardization, differentiation, specialization and diversification in professional services and how these strategies bring competitive advantage to the company. Finally, he pointed out that it is essential to analyze marketing practices developed by competitors.

The results indicated that the acquisition of professional services, such as tax preparation services, is not a common practice for many consumers and small to micro business owners.

One obvious gap is the lack of knowledge about the services offered by a professional accountant or tax preparer, namely on the importance of tax, financial and business planning and the perception of an elitist service only accessible to higher income individuals and larger business operations.

In addition, buyers and consumers are not aware of the work that has been developed in order to fill their needs, due to the lack of promotion of the professional firms work in the field. This explains also that the election of a professional is made based on the advice of friends and acquaintances, usually a less than qualified source.

Put another way, the potential customers contact firms through referrals from people who have purchased such services, without regard to the application for their particular situation and needs.

What I learned from Vrontis’s paper is that quality and professionalism can be
an impediment to practice growth when relied upon as the sole attraction. Practitioners need to deliver a message about the needs of their market and about their ability to fill those needs.

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